is what is called "trying to leave off." If a little
less be taken one day, generally a little more is taken the next. A
respectable patient, for whom I have prescribed on account of a severe
nervous affection, has been "_trying_" for the last six months to quit
her snuff, and she is apparently no nearer the accomplishment of her
object than when she began. It does not answer to treat, with the least
deference, an appetite, so unnatural and imperative as that created
by a powerful narcotic; it must be denied abruptly, totally, and
perseveringly.

In several of our penitentiaries, tobacco is not allowed to the inmates,
almost all of whom were consumers of it. The testimony of the agents of
these institutions is, that none are injured by quitting this narcotic,
but, that in a few days, seldom over twenty, their uneasiness and
agitation subside, their appetite is increased, and their appearance is
manifestly improved. A distinguished physician has assured me, that he
never knew a person sustain the least permanent injury from the disuse
of tobacco, but, on the contrary, every one had received decided benefit.
My own observation is in perfect accordance with this remark; I have
known a large number of this description, and can say that I have never
conversed with an individual, who, after having been freed from the
habit a year, did not confess that an advantage, greater or less, had
resulted from his self-denial.

_Cases Illustrative of the Effects of Tobacco._

A gentleman of distinction, in the profession of law in New Hampshire,
wrote me under date of Dec. 10, 1833, as follows.

"At the age of twelve years, misled by some boyish fancy,
I commenced the use of tobacco, and continued it with little
restraint for about _nineteen years_. Generally I was in the
habit of chewing tobacco, but sometimes for two, three or four
months together, I exchanged chewing for smoking. I have always
led a sedentary life. After attaining to manhood, my ordinary
weight was about 130 pounds; once or twice only rising to 135,
and falling not unfrequently to 125, and sometimes to 117. My
appetite was poor and unsteady, the nervous system much disordered,
and my life was greatly embittered by excessive and inordinate
fear of death. My spirits were much depressed. I became exceedingly
irresolute, so that it required a great effort to accomplish, what
I now do, even witho